Saville stopped, disgusted, and the hostess answered Sidney half coaxingly.
'Oh, I am sure you can't think that. The book is so one-sided. Not a word about our generosity, our hospitality, our domesticity—the thousand and one good traits all the world allows us.'
'Of course not; since all the world allows them, it was unnecessary,' said Sidney.
'I wonder the Chief Rabbi doesn't stop it,' said Mrs. Montagu Samuels.
'My dear, how can he?' inquired her husband. 'He has no control over the publishing trade.'
'He ought to talk to the man,' persisted Mrs. Samuels.
'But we don't even know who he is,' said Percy Saville; 'probably "Edward Armitage" is only a nom de plume. You'd be surprised to learn the real names of some of the literary celebrities I meet about.'
'Oh, if he's a Jew you may be sure it isn't his real name,' laughed Sidney. It was characteristic of him that he never spared a shot, even when himself hurt by the kick of the gun. Percy coloured slightly, unmollified by being in the same boat with the satirist.
'I have never seen the name in the subscription lists,' said the hostess with ready tact.
'There is an Armitage who subscribes two guineas a year to the Board of Guardians,' said Mrs. Montagu Samuels. 'But his Christian name is George.'